Johan Peter Lanterman (1714-1793)
}} "John Lanterman was born in the year 1714 in Wurtemburg, Europe, and died September, 1794, near Blairstown, N.J. The life of John Lanterman is still a matter of conjecture, and we will refer to it later. The first mention of his name is when he was naturalized on April 23, 1768, by an act of the New Jersey legislature. In the official papers his name was spelled Lanteman, Lanterman and Lauterman. Judging from the names of his associates he would have lived in the neighborhood of Beemerville or Layton, Sussex County, N.H. This agrees with traditions of the family that he was a miller, and located on the Papakating River, below the village of Sussex. Having mentioned the traditions of the family we hasten to say that later investigations lead us to believe that these traditions refer to John Lanterman Jr., eldest son of the pioneer; for there is no deed or historical mention to indicate that John Lanterman Sr., was the owner of the mill on Papakating in his early days. He no doubt was living in that region sometime before 1768, and was familiar with milling as a workman would be. John Lanterman Sr., after several of his children were grown and married purchased a plot of land of some 166 acres, three quarters of a mile south of the present Blairstown, Warren County, N.J., on which he erected a log house that is remembered by our grandparents. No deed has been found. Mr. Lanterman is not mentioned before December, 1773, and it is not likely that he was settled there much, if any, before that time. In his will he calls himself a 'weaver', mentions two looms in the house, and particularly speaks of one of the rooms that had a 'stove'. .......... John Lanterman Jr.. appears to have had a mill along the Paulins Kill where the Marksboro depot now stands, which he sold in 1792. The peculiar wording of the deed conects John Lanterman Sr., with this mill so that we feel that father and son may have operated the mill for a few years; and this would of course make Mr. Lanterman the pioneer a 'miller', but not on the Papakating river. Mr. Lanterman had several sons that might have aided him if he had built the mill; but it seems quite clear that none of the older members of the family ever came to Blairstown. They had married or gone away to other regions, and there are no traditions that the younger sons had anything to do with a mill. During this period Mr. Lanterman and his eldest son, John Jr., were connected with the church at 'Union Brick'; and one of the earliest burials in the cemetery there is that of 'Lydia Lanterman 1787' whom we judge to be the first wife of John Lanterman Jr. Later we will call attention to the fact that John Jr., was a Pennsylvania man, and returned to Pennsylvania for his second wife, and after selling the mill, he removed to Ross Corners, between Newton and Sussex. Mr. Lanterman, the pioneer, purchased a farm of fifty-four and a half acres near Cedar Lake for his son, Abraham, which he deeded to him on February 12, 1788. He willed his own farm to his son Jacob, requiring him to care for his mother and pay certain legacies. He mentioned in his will that his son, Peter, was far away (he was a pioneer in Kentucky), but provided that he or his heirs were to get a legacy 'if they proved themselves'. Mrs. Lanterman was born June or July, 1719 and died November 30, 1798. Her maiden name is given as Elizabeth Peterson or Petersenl and the old ladies of the family relate the tradition that the young people became acquainted on the vessel coming over and were married in this country. We have not the slightest clue to her family or where they were married; and the Captain's list of passengers shows no Peterson aboard. A Daniel Peterson of Frankford Township seems associated with the Lanterman family and may easily have been Elizabeth's brother; but we are unable to find out anything about him. We are bold enough to think that Mrs. Lanterman was English and had considerable to say in the education of her husband and the naming of the children in the English way; and we notice that the children all married English husbands or wives, with the possible exception of John, Jr. Mr. Park used to remark that 'All the Lantermans were Presbyterians.' When Mr. Lanterman settled near Blairstown, he probably found the settlement at Union Brick larger than at Blairstown. Cedar Lake was then called Buttermilk Pond; Blairstown was Butz Bridge or Gravel Hill and may have often been called its earlier name of Smythe's Bridge. Mr. Lanterman's place was on the road from Blairstown to Hope but it was on the old road which passes Union Brick cemetery, and not the modern concrete road which has been built through his property. .......... Johan Peter Lanterman was born in 1714 in Wurtemberg, Europe. He was not so much a Palatinate like the 'Pennsylvania Deutch' has he was a Huguenot like the Border Frenchmen and Alsacians. His first name John was a Christian' name and was used mainly on formal occasions. His family and friends called him Peter, and so did the Captain and people on the ship. He had a fair education and when 24 years of age he gathered together food, rainment and bedding and started for America. Sailing down the Rhine was no pleasure trip. It was early spring and cold. The passengers camped on shore to do their cooking and sleeping, provided the war conditions and the tax collectors did not compel them to sail all night and day without landing. Arriving at Rotterdam he made arrangements with the English vessel 'Nancy' for his passage for Philadelphia. He had to furnish his own food and do his own cooking as was usual. The vessel stopped at Dover, or at Cowes on the Isle of Man, Eng. for final supplies and English passengers, and arrived at Philadelphia on September 20th, 28 1738. Johan Peter, as the Captain wrote his name, passed through the custom house where the clerks had their troubles in spelling foreign names, then went to the Court House or Church, engaging in ceremonies which were semi-religious, avowed his belief in God and the Christian Faith and signed the Oath of Allegiance. He signed 'Johan Peter Lauterman' and gave his age as 24. ....... Our cousin James A Park told us when he was a young man, he asked Peter Lanterman, his grandfather, for information about John Lanterman the Original and was told that 'He came from Wurtemburg when he was a young man and went up to the neighborhood of Esopus where it was though the had relatives.' ........ John Lanterman the pioneer and his wife, Elizabeth Peterson, had thirteen children; their fifth child, a daughter, was born 7-12-1747, was named Christina, died a babe and is not here further mentioned. A younger daughter, born 1760, was given the same name. I. John, born 3-16-1741, died 10-15-1813, buried at East Lansing, N.Y. He married (1) Lydia ---, buried in 1787 at Union Brick, by whom six children, and (2) Sarah Salady by whom one son. II. Mary, born 8-14-1742, who is said to have married a Mr. Crawn and died soon after her marriage. We can get no further information. III. Anna, born 2-15-1744, died 11-29-1806, married Isaac Jayne and had 11 children. IV. Daniel, born 8-27-1745, died in May, 1825, married Catharine Williamson. He is said to have been a toll-gate keeper on Schooley's Mountain, N.J. His will directs that he be buried as Washington, N.J. It is quite likely that the Lantermans of Dover, N.J. belong to this group but they have lost their ancestral information. V. Peter, born 1-8-1749, died 6-14-1821, married Aletta Applegate and finally settled in what is now Springfield, Ohio. He is assumed to have had children but their names have not been ascertained. VI. Jacob, born 5-31-1751, by the Bible (Tombstone is in error), died 10-13-1829, buried at Union Brick; married Mercy Luse, had nine children. VII. Isaac, born 5-19-1753, died 11-11-1846, married Sarah ---. They had eight children, six of whom did not reach maturity. Those dying young were: John, David, Elizabeth, Isaac, Jane and Anson; Sarah their second child, and Daniel their fourth child, grew up and married. VIII. Sophia, born 3-22-1755, died 12-8-1823, both are buried in Pleasant Grove cemetery just north of Ithaca, N.Y. Married Samuel I. Brown, they had eight children. IX. Abraham, born 3-3-1757, died 1-3-1829, married (1) Sarah Ogden and had three children, and (2) sine prole Catherine Snyder. X. Elizabeth, born 12-4-1758, who is said to have married a man by the name of Wilkinson or Wilkerson; but nothing whatever is known of her by the family. XI. Christina, born 8-19-1760, died 6-16-1849, married Daniel Brown and had several children; finally settled at North Vara, N.Y. XII. Sarah, born 5-16-1763, married Joseph Manning; descendants near Ithaca, N.Y." Pioneer Families of Northwestern New Jersey By Michael Armstrong, William C. Armstrong